Repository:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.

Abstract: A pioneer in video art, Vâelez, together with Gary Hill and Bill
Viola, was at the forefront of the generation that established video as an
art form in the 1970s.

Language:
English.

Administrative Information

Access

The Media materials require at least two weeks advance notice to use in order to allow staff time to have use copies made
from the original items.

Publication Rights

Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights
reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To
obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the
Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.

Educated at the University of Puerto Rico, where he
was influenced by Marshal McLuhan, Vâelez subsequently moved to New York
where he studied at Global Village. Vâelez has been credited with the
development of "a new transequential language of representation," in which
multiple scenes are superimposed and juxtaposed within the frame. In this
respect, Vâelez's production notes on his video pieces provide a unique
and invaluable resource on how he was able to make these advances using
analog formats -- nearly a decade before digital formats made layered
imagery a standard practice in video production. In his numerous videos,
Vâelez has explored other cultures -- from the Cuna Indians of Panama to
the Butoh dancers of Japan -- using his unique video aesthetic and
language to explore intercultural dialogue and self-reflexive ethnography.
Above all, Vâelez's videos attest to the impossibility of a one-to-one
translation across cultural boundaries. (Extracted from notes by Chon
Noriega, Dept. of Film and Television, UCLA)

Collection Scope and Content Summary

Correspondence, scripts, business papers, original artwork, and
production stills related to videos. Twenty completed video works, nearly
half of which are out of distribution, 51 hours of video documentation
including "Behind the Scenes," a 19-hour documentary of the production
process for two key works: A MOSQUE IN TIME and MEMORY OF FIRE, and a
32-hour documentary of Japanese Butoh dance, and last, video copies of
television interviews with Vâelez for Spanish, Argentinian, and Japanese
television.

Access Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.